Game - Guess the novel from the opening sentence...

MDavis · Jul 5, 2006

This may be too hard to play for a sustained amount of time, but I thought it would be fun for the bibliophiles among us (and I hope that's all of us) to play a game with great first sentences in famous or not-so famous novels.

I'll post the first one (an easy one, I don't have too many of these memorized) and then the next person post that novel's title and author. Then that person gives us a new opening line and the game continues. If no one can guess the response, that person can supply the answer and suggest a new line.

I'm kind of hoping that this proves educational to those of us still struggling to capture the essence of a great first sentence.

Ok here goes.

"Call me Ishmael."

What's the book? Who wrote it?

My-Immortal · Jul 5, 2006

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Next first line:

You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings.

FreeStyle · Jul 6, 2006

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

next,

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed.

triceretops · Jul 6, 2006

Uh, Ulysses?

If so, next:

"My wound is geography."

Tri

MDavis · Jul 7, 2006

Pat Conroy

Prince of Tides

Ok how about...(maybe another easy one?)

"It is a truth generally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

(I hope I got that all right)

Forbidden Snowflake · Jul 7, 2006

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen.

You couldn't get a book I love more than this one!

I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.

FreeStyle · Jul 7, 2006

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen.

next,

All this happened, more or less.

MDavis · Jul 7, 2006

Oooh! Ooh!! and now you got my favorite book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte! Thanks Forbidden Snowflake

(P&P is prob 2nd favorite)

I'm going to step in and place FreeStyle's suggestion here as the next first line:

FreeStyle said:
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen.

next,

All this happened, more or less.

FreeStyle · Jul 10, 2006

Does no one know this one or are people just bored with the game? I like this game!

K, I'll post the first and second sentences:

All this happened more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true.

If still no one knows I'll post the first paragraph.

Tre · Jul 10, 2006

FreeStyle said:
All this happened more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true.

Slaughterhouse Five

It was four o'clock when the ceremony was over and the carriages began to arrive.

Silver King · Jul 10, 2006

This game is hard, I'm telling ya, hard, which is what makes it such great fun. I feel like I'm on the game show Jeopardy, buzzer in hand, and I have all the time in the world to make up my mind. The answer is so close to the tip of my tongue that I can feel the letters sliding across the back of my teeth.

I'm sorry I don't know the answer. (I think I do, but it's so far down there at the moment, I can't draw it out.)

What a great idea to make a thread last forever.

PattiTheWicked · Jul 10, 2006

Tre said:
It was four o'clock when the ceremony was over and the carriages began to arrive.

The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair.

"I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get."

FreeStyle · Jul 11, 2006

Silver King said:
This game is hard, I'm telling ya, hard, which is what makes it such great fun. I feel like I'm on the game show Jeopardy, buzzer in hand, and I have all the time in the world to make up my mind. The answer is so close to the tip of my tongue that I can feel the letters sliding across the back of my teeth.

I'm sorry I don't know the answer. (I think I do, but it's so far down there at the moment, I can't draw it out.)

What a great idea to make a thread last forever.

I agree, i really like this game!! If for no other reason than creating a long list of first lines to read, appreciate and be inspired by (that first line is always so difficult). Sometimes you forget the tone and mood of the very first line of some great masterpiece. It's nice to remember.

I have NO CLUE about PattitheWicked's line but I'm sure someone can figure it out.

MDavis · Jul 11, 2006

PattiTheWicked said:
"I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one. Or at least as close as we're going to get."

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (love that book!)

I'm glad everyone's enjoying this game, I really am

How about a twist then...

riverrun, past Eve and Adams, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by commodious vicus of recirculation back to Howth, Castle and Environs.

That's it--correct capitalization and all. And I will give FIVE rep points to the person who can give me the novel's last line (hm...that's kind of a hint

).

CaroGirl · Jul 11, 2006

James Joyce, Finnegans Wake. I think it ends like this(?):
"Given! A way a lone a last a loved a long the "

How about this one:

"The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest."

Silver King · Jul 11, 2006

Heart of Darkness, by Conrad.

In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains.

Silver King · Jul 12, 2006

Hint: The novel takes place in Europe during World War I.

If it helps, I'll add another line or two.

alleycat · Jul 12, 2006

A Farewell to Arms

"Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can't be sure."

Cath · Jul 12, 2006

Albert Camus - the Stranger.

"When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta."

Hope it's not too obscure...

Cabinscribe · Jul 12, 2006

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami.

"Gil and I crossed the eastern divide about two by the sun."

Silver King · Jul 16, 2006

Is this thread going to die by hanging? I thought it would last forever...

Mark Lazer · Jul 17, 2006

Cabinscribe said:
"Gil and I crossed the eastern divide about two by the sun."

I'm not sure, but could it be The Ox-bow Incident written by Walter vna Tilburg Clark?

MDavis · Jul 17, 2006

I googled it for the sake of the thread and you're correct Mark! Go ahead and give us the next line when you get the chance.

~Michelle

Silver King · Jul 17, 2006

I hadn't considered the Google aspect and fear it may put a damper on the future of this game. It does save the time of actually thinking through to a solution, standing up, walking to a bookshelf and leafing through volumes to confirm answers are correct.

Maybe we should change the exercise to famous last lines, or can search engines recognize those as well?

MDavis · Jul 17, 2006

I think we can just say no Googling unless a first line has been sitting here for two days with no responses. Then you can Google.

It'll help us get unstuck, and I'm sure most people won't cheat and post.

Game - Guess the novel from the opening sentence...

The Brunette She-Ra

Mr. Invisible

The Brunette She-Ra

I'm quite put out.

The Brunette She-Ra

Bite me!

Megalops Erectus

Unleashing Hell.

The Brunette She-Ra

Living the dream

Megalops Erectus

Megalops Erectus

Still around

The mean one

Often ignored by muses

Megalops Erectus

The Brunette She-Ra

Megalops Erectus

The Brunette She-Ra